Lara Croft's Middle Eastern Trouble
by Ffreq
Summary: Lara learns that humans can be just as dangerous as the traps in ancient temples - when she is assaulted and kidnapped, how much pain does it take to make her spill all her secrets? This is a torture and action-filled story with Lara being just an averagely fit person (not a videogame superhuman character). Borderline T/M rating, intense scenes of pain and sexual remarks (no sex).
1. Part 1

Lara Croft's Middle Eastern Trouble.

This is the second Lara Croft story, written in December 2012 — January 2013 and posted first on a different website (where it's not present anymore). The story is even longer than the first one (which is also available here on FanFiction in my profile), clocking over 10K words; for convenience of reading, it's split into 4 chapters — the story was written as a whole without explicit "chapters" in mind, but the division into parts is more-or-less plot-based, so you can read it part by part instead of trying to read it all in one sit (which is probably close to 1 hour).

DISCLAIMER: Lara Croft character and the Tomb Raider franchise as a whole are a property of their respective copyright owners. This story is not a part of the canon and is entirely a fanfiction written on the "fair use" basis, as a derivative work, without any intent of copyright violation. The author strongly does not approve practicing the depicted tortures (or any kind of tortures) as a method of obtaining information in real life; or any type of violence against the will of the subject. If you find such scenes uncomfortable, or if you're not allowed to be exposed to such material by your local laws, you should not proceed.

SHORT SUMMARY: This story puts Lara into a different situation than we're used to see her in — she has to deal with human enemies who are very determined to find out the secrets she keeps, and won't stop to get this information from her. Expect the heroine to be a subject to beatings, low blows, BDSM-ish torture and such — and a bit of action with guns towards the end. Lara here isn't a superhuman of any sorts (or a videogame character, for that matter) who would be able to handle any kind of damage relatively easily; she's definitely fit and trained, she knows how to use guns, etc., but that's pretty much all — she's a living human being.

As for Lara's appearance, her looks during the Legend / Anniversary / Underworld games are a very good reference, probably with slightly smaller breasts though. She's around 23-24, not too much tanned skin, nice-looking slim athletic body. Clothing will be described in detail in the story itself.

Any opinions / reviews of the story would be much appreciated.

* * *

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

Regaining consciousness, Lara made a displeased sound and pulled her arm from under the blanket to reach the alarm clock and stop it. She blinked a couple times, focusing her vision on the clock's display. 6 AM... Rolling onto her back, she lay still for half a minute more, then slowly sat up in the bed and stretched, letting the blanket slide down her body and expose her slim frame just barely covered by underwear. The bed was very nice — she just wished she had more time to sleep... But what was planned for the afternoon was very well worth a couple hours of sleep. Completely putting the blanket away, the girl placed her bare feet onto the warm floor and slowly walked towards the large window occupying the whole wall of the room. She touched the control in the corner — the heavy blinds rotated and rolled away, filling the room with bright rays of sunrise and opening a fantastic view of the Middle Eastern landscape. Dubai — a beautiful city and very soon it would be the place of one of the most amazing discoveries in history.

38 floors below, a blonde woman in her early thirties, dressed in a strict business suit and accompanied by 5 men in police uniform, walked to the reception counter. "Miss, I'm agent Rinsey, Interpol," — she flashed her badge. — "We need to know the room where a one named Lara Croft is staying."

Taking all that she needed from her bag, Lara proceeded into the bathroom. Quickly getting out of her underwear, the girl stepped into the shower cabin and switched on the warm water. She devoted quite some time to shaving her armpits, legs and crotch smoothly, taking this time to think of the plans for the day. A big day indeed — a chain of discoveries that Lara and Professor Murchwald from the famous British university had made has lead them both to an ancient settlement here in UAE, which had concrete evidence that people here had visitors from American continent way back in 2000 BC or even earlier — thus changing the humanity's view on a lot of historical events dramatically. One of the most famous annual archaeological conferences, WAC, was held that day in Dubai — and they were going to present their discovery to the whole world. Such a moment very well deserved staying for a night here in Armani hotel in the famous Burj Khalifa tower. Lara smiled, putting away the razor blade and switching the shower to cold. She shivered, feeling the icy water run down her body, and exhaled quietly. She needed to be completely awake for the conference...

Several minutes later her bare feet touched the warm floor of the room again as Lara walked out of the shower, stark naked and trying to wrap the towel around her body with no success. With a quiet sigh, she threw the towel onto the bed and reached for her cell phone lying on the table near it...

Bang! The door into the apartment slammed open as 5 policemen stormed in, with their pistols ready and pointing at Lara. "Freeze!" Her actions weren't even conscious for her — it was all instincts and perception of everything as if it was played in slow motion. Lara rushed across the room to the right, making a run for the bathroom wall as at least some sort of cover — and the policemen opened fire. One bullet hit her left shoulder, stopping her momentum and turning her by 90 degrees with the knockback, facing the attackers. Her body was now an easy target for the storm of bullets following the first one... Some whizzed past her, smashing the wall-sized window behind her. Several of them hit her breasts, stopping deep inside her flesh after being slowed down by the ribs and just barely missing her heart. Quite a few landed into her upper abs, riddling her stomach, liver, kidneys and piercing her body through. Three or four more hit lower, below her navel, filling her guts and the most intimate organs with lead. Lara was resembling an army shooting target now with all the bullet holes in her — opening her mouth in shock and doubling over in unbearable pain, she stepped backwards for balance, being almost knocked over by the huge knockback. And one more step, and more... Holding her wounds with both hands and blinded by the pain, Lara made one more step back — into the air. The glass window, smashed by the bullets, wasn't there anymore to save her, and the girl, tripping over the edge and letting out a desperate scream of horror as loud as her bullet-penetrated lungs could produce, went for a 140-meter fall.

"Fucking idiots, I said I needed her alive!" — the woman, who had been standing behind the policemen, rushed forward in an attempt to catch Lara, but she was a second too late. Now she could only stand here and watch... Short 5 seconds of free fall were more than enough for the girl to completely realize what was about to happen. Even the insane pain in all her body left her mind to make room for the maddening horror — an absolutely crazy cry lasted for a second before her naked body smashed into the pavement at the ground level, making pounds of blood spurt out of every orifice...

With a loud inhale, Lara opened her eyes and almost jumped up in the bed, startled by the terrifying nightmare. Her heart was racing like crazy, and it took quite a series of quick sharp breaths for her to realize that she was back in her hotel bed. The dream seemed so scarily realistic... The girl sat up in her bed, covering her face with both hands and breathing deeply. The alarm clock suddenly going off made her literally jump... She looked at it angrily, reaching to it to switch it off, and quickly got out of the bed, coming to the window and opening the blinds. A glance down made her heart jump to her throat — this height seemed so menacing now because of the nightmare. Shaking her head to make the thoughts go away, the girl stood silently for a few more seconds before letting out a quiet sigh, going back to the bed and reaching for the bag under it. She had always used to sleep well in unfamiliar places — this was something new. Signing it off to the excitement for the upcoming day, Lara took her stuff from the bag.

Restroom. Washing up. Shaving. Cold shower. The bathroom door opened, letting the girl back into the room. Finishing wiping her body with the towel, she came to the table near the bed to grab her cell phone — and hesitated for a moment, suddenly remembering what had happened after this in the dream. A quick cautious movement of hand, and she glanced briefly at the apartment door, making sure nobody was breaking it down. She smiled at herself, quickly checking if there were any new messages and putting the phone back. Lara stretched her body and reached for the bag again, taking some underwear from it. She would be wearing a tight dress at the ceremony, she needed something equally tight and invisible... This. She quickly pulled the white low-rise panties up her legs and dealt with the modest bra of the same color, coming to the large mirror in the room's wardrobe and giving herself a satisfied look...

Boom! Boom! The sound of loud thuds on the apartment door, which she was standing not more than a couple meters away from, almost made her jump. She stood quiet, still feeling the slight bit of irrational fear that came from the nightmare. The thuds happened again, this time accompanied by a rather rude male voice: "Miss Croft! Room service!". Lara looked at the door cautiously. Whoever it was, her gut was telling her it was anything but the room service... Trying to make absolutely no noise at all, she walked to the door on her toes and looked into the peephole. Four policemen and some woman in a suit... She almost gasped from horror, suddenly feeling a very strong connection to her dream. "She has to be there," — the woman's voice was barely heard from behind the door, but Lara still could make out words. — "Her key card info shows that she entered the room last evening and hasn't left since then. I have the order on her immediate arrest. Break this door!"

As the first loud kick shattered the door, Lara jumped back in panic, breathing deeply and looking around. The only other way out of the apartment was to fall out of the window... Or... The girl looked at the high wardrobe and rushed towards it, as the next kick on the door made it crack and almost give up. One more smash — and the door slammed open, immediately letting the five people rush into the room. "Clear!" "Clear!" "I'm checking the bathroom... Clear!" As soon as all five people were inside the room and not blocking the exit, Lara jumped down from the wardrobe, on top of which she had been hiding, and fled out of the door into the corridor. "There she is!" — all the people in the room immediately rushed after her, jamming for a second in the doorway, while Lara was running like hell away along the hotel's wide and empty corridor. "Can we open fire, ma'am?" — "Yes, definitely yes, just don't kill her!" Lara noticed an opening to her left, leading to the staircase, and turned into it just as the first bullets were fired at her, with one of them piercing her right biceps and making her scream from pain, grabbing the arm with her left hand and almost falling down the stairs from the lost balance. "Fernandez, do you hear me?" — As the three other policemen rushed after the girl, one reached for his radio. — "The suspect is going down staircase B, I repeat, staircase B, catch her on your floor!"

Not even paying attention to her injured arm, Lara was fleeing down the stairs, trying to think on her feet of a possible escape plan. She probably shouldn't go right away to the hotel lobby, it must be swarming with cops; she should just... Her thinking was interrupted when the door on floor 20 suddenly opened up in front of her, and before she could even react properly, a policeman in riot gear grabbed her by throat, slammed her into the wall of stairwell and kneed her hard in the crotch that was barely covered by panties, making her let out a pitiful cry and double over in pain. She desperately twitched in his arms, trying to break free, but in just a couple more seconds all her pursuers surrounded her, pointing guns and making her give up resisting. "Oh, it was hard to catch you," — catching her breath, the woman laughed, looking her right in the eyes and coming closer. "Lara Croft, you're under arrest for the murder of Thomas Murchwald and planning of a terrorist attack." Getting the taser from her pocket, the woman pressed it against the bare skin of Lara's lower belly and switched it on, holding it there with a triumphant smile while the girl was twitching uncontrollably until she lost consciousness...


	2. Part 2

... Waking up wasn't a paradise, either. The first sensation she felt was someone rudely grabbing her by hair from behind — the next second, her face was forcibly slammed into the metal table, making her regain consciousness with a short scream of panic and an instinctive twitch. The same moment, she realized her hands were tied behind her back to the chair she was sitting on; she tried to look around — but the hand slammed her face into the table again, making her moan from pain and feel blood dripping from her nose. The person behind her let go of her hair, stepping back and letting her sit straight and blink a couple times, focusing her vision and looking around. Lara was still in her underwear, with the only difference in clothing being that her shot arm was covered by a simple bandage; it seemed to her that the place around her was swaying slightly, but she quickly signed that off to the dizziness and shook her head a bit. She was tied to a chair in front of the table in a darkened room, with the only source of light being an uncovered light bulb in the low ceiling. In the corner of the room, a woman in a strict suit was standing with her arms crossed on her chest, looking at her with interest. "You," — Lara whispered, recognizing her as the one who caught her. — "What the fuck are you..." — "Shut up, you're not in position of asking questions, are you," — the woman interrupted her, coming closer and sitting across the table from Lara. "Accusing me of a terrorist attack isn't going..." The woman nodded to a person behind the girl, and her face was slammed into the table once again, mid-sentence, making her let out a pathetic squeak and look angrily at the woman. "Is this how the police deals with terrorists now?"

The woman laughed, reaching into the pocket of her suit and taking the Interpol badge and ID card from it. "This is all fake. Did you really believe all that nice show that we pulled in the hotel? It was just a convenient way to legally get to you and make you disappear. And destroy your reputation, as a neat side effect. Those fine policemen were so proud to accompany an Interpol agent during the arrest of a terrorist... They might even receive some award, unless the fakeness of my identity will be revealed before that," — the woman made a pause in her speech, observing the priceless look on Lara's face. — "So, my darling, you're pretty much fucked. You better wish you found yourself in a real police station — you'd be much safer there." Lara looked at her with a mix of anger and fear. "So what do you want? And speaking of accusing me of killing of Thomas, what was that all about?" The woman smiled, taking a photograph from her pocket and sliding it across the table to the girl. Lara couldn't hold a gasp — it was a photograph of Murchwald lying in a puddle of his own blood in a hotel room, with four red bullet holes making a perfect contrast with his white shirt. "Did... Did you do that?" — "Everyone thinks it was you, but yes. We." — The woman replied with a cold look. — "And this, of course, has a close relation to your second question, about what we want... We want your discovery."

As Lara's eyes showed even more hatred, the woman continued. "An amazing discovery, undoubtedly. The one who makes it will go down in history, right? So... We want it. Simple as that. We have all the files and presentations that Murchwald had. And now we have the ones that you had on your laptop, as well. The only thing we don't have is the knowledge... It's hidden in your heads. We want to know everything. All the story of your findings that has lead you here, all the evidence, all the facts. So that our story can make sense, so that we can write articles and books, answer questions. Thomas was a strong man. When he said that he'd rather die than give out the information, we saw that he was absolutely serious. There was no reason to try to make him speak — he wouldn't. You, however," — the woman smiled ominously, — "we can make you break down. We can make you speak. I see it in your eyes... You're the one who will crack and spill all the info, not him." — The woman paused for a few seconds, clearly enjoying the talk itself. — "Now, I will only ask this question once. Think well before you answer. Will you tell us everything right now? We can just talk peacefully." Lara closed her eyes for a couple of seconds and took a deep breath, then granted her kidnapper with yet another look full of hatred and spitted into her face. The woman did her best to suppress her anger. After a moment of silence she quietly wiped herself with a cloth and stood up. "I thought so. Let me give you a piece of advice — during the next hours, don't forget that you chose yourself what's coming to you." She walked to the metal door in the corner of the room and knocked quietly on it two times.

After a few seconds, the door opened with a screech, letting inside a tall and pale man in his late thirties, carrying a rather big briefcase in one hand. "Meet Mark," — the woman said calmly. — "He's so nice with people that they just can't resist telling him everything he wants to know." Mark placed the briefcase onto the metal table with a loud clang and opened it in such a way that Lara couldn't see its content. "Just in case you're wondering, I'm Sarah, nice to meet you. And that gentleman behind you is George," — the woman said, as the aforementioned George cut the rope that was tying Lara's hands to the chair and pulled her upwards by hair, making her scream shortly and stand up with her hands still tied together behind her back. Having finished organizing something in his briefcase, the content of which was still hidden from the girl's eyes, Mark rolled the sleeves of his dark shirt up his hands and looked at her. "Nice figure," — he said quietly, nodding at her barely hidden by underwear body. — "As far as I know, you're a bad girl. You don't cooperate, oh, that's a terrible thing," — he walked around the table and came closer to Lara. His face or his voice strangely weren't menacing — he was talking the way two friends talk at a bar, and this strange friendliness was creepily uncomfortable. Lara stepped back from him, bumping into George, who grabbed her tied arms behind her back...

Without further sophisticated threats, Mark clutched his right hand into a fist and slammed it hard into the girl's abs, just above the navel — the girl tried to hold her scream, moaning through clenched teeth and bending over a bit. The next second, she felt George grab her hair and pull back, putting her back into a standing position — and Mark delivered the same blow once again, and yet again, with another hand, making her let out a pitiful moan and strain her muscles instinctively. "You know," — Mark said, stepping back and flexing his arms, — "there are just so many vulnerable spots here," — he pointed at her bare midriff. — "Starting from the well-known ones..." What followed was a strong blow to the girl's side, hitting her precisely in the left kidney — this time, Lara couldn't hold a stifled cry of pain, shivering with all her body and clutching her legs together, as the sharp jolt pierced her urinary system and echoed painfully in her groin. "Aaand it's the same here!" — Mark landed his fist into her second kidney, making her bend forward with a short loud cry in an attempt to ease the pain. "Easy there, we've barely just started yet..." Mark patted the girl on her right shoulder lightly and smacked his right fist into her solar plexus — the girl doubled over completely, gulping for air and grimacing from pain. After a few seconds, on Mark's sign, George pulled her back up into a standing position.

The executioner walked back to the table and took a weird looking wooden pole out of the briefcase. By the looks of it, one could even confuse it with some sort of a dildo — it was roughly the same size and shape, but had a bulge near one end of it, resembling a hilt on the sword. It lay comfortably in Mark's hand, almost like a knife, except that its end was rounded safely, clearly unable to pierce flesh — still, it definitely looked as some strange kind of weapon. "So, like I said, that was the well-known spot," — Mark touched Lara's side in the place where he had landed his fist some moments ago, and the girl visibly shuddered. — "But I love surprising my clients with pain in places they didn't expect it from," — suddenly, his right knee slammed right into Lara's barely covered crotch, exactly between her slightly parted smooth thighs, making her cry out and clench her thighs back together, making visible attempts to free her hands to cover herself, but George was holding them reliably behind her back. "Ah, girls," — Mark grinned, and George shared his emotion. — "You females love to abuse low blows on men, but what happens when you're on the receiving end?.." Lara's clenched thighs couldn't stop Mark's right hand — the man rudely grabbed her crotch through the thin fabric of the panties, placing his thumb on her pubic region and the rest of the palm right between her legs, and squeezed it hard. This time, Lara couldn't hold a desperate loud cry of pain; she was twitching in George's arms, as Mark's hand was squeezing and twisting her such sensitive private parts... The girl's bare legs were wiggling on the floor, while she was desperately struggling with the torture, letting out short, yet loud cries and looking pleadingly at her executioner.

Sarah slowly walked closer to the action, examining the looks on Lara's face as the torture continued, and then finally made a subtle sign to Mark to let go of her. The girl was panting, catching her breath and moaning quietly on every exhale, her legs were shaking under her, making George having to hold her so that she wouldn't slide down to the floor. "Remember when I said I would only ask that question once..." — Sarah spoke quietly, looking into the girl's eyes. — "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have formulated it that way. I will ask it again. And again, if needed. And again, until I'll hear a "yes". So... Will you tell us everything now?" Lara averted her eyes from both Sarah and Mark, looking into the ceiling and restoring her breath. "Fuck... you-ooooooww!.." The girl doubled over in pain, as the wooden stick in Mark's hands slammed hard into her lower belly, just above the fabric of her low-rise panties and slighly to the left — thus hitting her left ovary just right. Lara was hissing loudly from pain through her clenched teeth, squeezing her thighs tightly together and starting to slide down to the floor against George's body. The pain was so unexpectedly sharp; she felt as if all the tender insides of her were set on fire — every exhale brought a pitiful moan with it, tears emerged from her eyes, her lower body was insanely tense, as all the muscles were struggling with the pain... "A simple attack to the crotch is painful, but not as much as on men, I agree with that," — Mark was acting as if he was giving Lara a lecture. — "The real source of pain is hard to hit, but if you know where to strike, and how to strike, mmm..." George pulled the girl back up, and without a hesitation Mark thrusted his hand forward, again slamming the stick in his hand into Lara's groin, aiming for the second ovary. Lara cried out wildly, almost falling to the ground when her shaking legs gave way under her; unable to cover herself with the tied arms, she was twitching desperately in the arms of two men, feeling her bottom being pierced by a sharp, burning pain. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, when she was pulled back up and faced with Sarah again.

"Have you changed your mind now?" — "I... I said fuck you..." Without a word, the woman stepped aside, letting Mark get back to Lara and nod to George to let go of her. Now that there was no one behind her, Mark grabbed her by throat with his left hand, slammed her into the wall and proceeded to mercilessly hit her groin with his improvised weapon, several times in a row without letting her recover even the slightest bit. Doing that blindly, he undoubtedly missed a hit or two — not that it helped the girl much. A non-stop hysterical scream was emerging from her lungs, as she was twitching, pressed against the wall, trying to curl up to protect her hips from the weapon — every blow was making her private parts feel like they were burning from crazy pain. "Stop! Pleeease!" — "What did you say?" — Sarah asked sarcastically, coming close to Lara and looking into her eyes. Mark hit her once again — the girl cried out into the woman's face instead of the answer, with even more tears bursting from her eyes. As soon as the executioner released her throat, Lara immediately slided down against the wall onto the floor, pulling her legs to her chest in pain and letting out a series of loud agonizing groans on every exhale, unable to cover her groin with her tied arms, but cuddling incredibly tightly to ease the pain. She was almost blinded by the flowing tears, sitting in her curled up position on the floor and feeling almost all her sensations concentrated as pain in her groin.

"Well, that's impressive," — Sarah spoke quietly to Mark. — "Hey, Lara, dare to say "fuck you" again?" The girl raised her head, looking in the direction of the woman with her completely teary eyes and still howling quietly from pain. "Fuck. You," — she sobbed on the last word, still unable to breathe properly after the torture and crying. "You piece of shit!" — Mark slammed his boot into her body from the side, making her cry out from pain, as the sound of a cracking rib was heard, and fall completely onto the floor, lying in the same cuddled position and weeping to herself quietly. "Well... Continue, then," — Sarah was slightly disappointed. "It's fantastically effective in terms of pain, ma'am," — Mark replied, — "but I'm afraid if she hasn't cracked up yet from this, she won't. I want to try something different... Everyone has a torture they can't handle, believe me, you just need to find the right one. Will you hold this for a moment?" — he gave Sarah the briefcase from the table and gestured to George to come closer. — "We need to put her onto the table," — he bent over to the weeping girl and cut the rope that was tying her hands behind her. Lara's hands immediately went to her groin, squeezing it tightly and covering it from any possible further attacks... Mark grabbed her by ankles and lifted her into the air, just as George did the same with her shoulders — before the girl even realized everything, she was quickly laid onto the table on her back, and her arms and legs were rudely spread apart in the form of a letter X. "Wh... What are you doing?" — "Shut up! Unless you want to tell us what we need from you," — the woman interrupted her, watching the two men tie Lara's hands and feet to the corners of the table.


	3. Part 3

Mark took a knife from his pocket and clicked it open — Lara gasped in horror as he brought it to her chest, but he only cut the fabric of the bra between her breasts and under her armpits, quickly exposing her fine breasts and throwing the piece of underwear into the corner of the room. He then quickly moved to the girl's hips — she closed her eyes for a second and tried to stop her tears, feeling her bare intimate parts being exposed the same way to everyone in the room. "You'll burn in hell, motherfucker," — she hissed at Mark, as his fingers gently touched the skin of her groin. "No, no, I'm not a monster, don't think of me like that," — the man smiled maliciously. — "I would never rape anyone. Try to believe me, even though I know that it's hard. Other stuff, however..." Lara felt the soft touch of the man's fingers against her lower belly being replaced by the cold sensation of the knife's sharp steel and gasped loudly from fear, trying to pull her belly in in a useless attempt of defense — if Mark had wanted to gut her, it surely wouldn't stop him. However, he put the knife away with a smirk and walked to Sarah, opening the briefcase in her hands and taking a large whip from it. "You have proven to be quite resistant to the pain deep inside you... Let's see how long you will last against something more... you know... superficial." He swung his hand in the air — and Lara arched her body upwards in the bonds with a deafening scream, as the wide hard wire of the whip slashed her abs diagonally, leaving a bright red trail on her skin. One more sharp movement of the arm — and the same red stripe appeared across her tender breasts, making the girl howl wildly through her clenched teeth and wiggle on the table, unable to ease the pain. Mark was good at his work — the whip hit across both nipples precisely, making them swell with blood and pulsate with pain on every heartbeat. "We might actually need to put something into her mouth," — Mark said, observing her crying face. — "If she breaks her teeth, she will have nothing to talk to us with." — "I'm on it," — George took the rope that they used to tie her hands to the chair with from his pocket and made it into a simple gag, shoving it rudely into the girl's mouth.

"Now... If you change your mind, just try to say it loud and clear through this thing in your mouth," — Mark laughed, rising his arm for another whip. — "I'm afraid you haven't had enough here," — he touched her lower belly again softly, and Lara screamed through the gag in horror, shaking her head with a pleading look. "Too late, girl, you should've been more cooperative before!" The whip made a short clapping sound, hitting her tender skin, and Lara's body arched upwards again, with high-pitched shrieks coming out of her mouth through the gag, and legs twitching in the ropes. Diagonally across her lower belly, a wide red stripe of swollen with blood skin could be seen, even with small irregularities of the whip's wire imprinted into it. "Here we go again!" Lara's teeth bit hard into the fabric of the gag as the whip left one more mark in her groin, hitting dangerously close to her crotch and making her cry out through the gag again, with a new portion of tears emerging from her eyes. "Do you want to know where it's even more painful? Here." — Mark touched her wide open inner thighs with his fingers — the touch itself, smooth and not even a harassing one, served a very particular purpose — so that Lara could anticipate the sensation of the whip landing into exactly the same spot. A vivid imagination was something one would wish not to have in this situation — the girl shuddered, watching Mark walk back to Sarah and replace his current whip with a more thin one. "Hits harder, hurts like hell," — he laughed, showing it to Lara, and then raised his hand in the air again — the new whip ripped the air with a whizzing sound and smashed right into the girl's left inner thigh, a few centimeters below her crotch. Even the gag couldn't silence Lara's absolutely wild howl — it felt like her thigh was set on fire; the burning sensation was so unbearable that her both legs were wiggling in the ropes, with the feet hitting the surface of the metal table repeatedly with a clanging sound. Mark aimed for another blow, and the girl's scream of horror in advance changed into a scream of pain, as the whip's wire landed almost precisely into the same spot, making the first scar hurt even worse where the marks were intersecting. During the girl's agonizing twitches, every exhale brought a loud howl with it, her leg felt like it was being cut with a saw — the long red scar on her thigh was visibly pulsating with blood, sending jolts of intense pain into her mind.

Mark raised his arm again, and Lara shrieked loudly through the gag, much to his joy. Instead of delivering another blow, he came closer to her head and pulled the gag out of her mouth — Lara was sobbing and whining quietly from pain as she was breathing, still twitching a bit in her ropes and almost blind from all the tears in her eyes. Sarah came closer, too, putting the briefcase in her hands onto the empty place on the table near the girl's head. "Wasn't that painful enough, Lara? I can promise, all of this will stop as soon as you start to speak. It's very simple — just telling us the information will relieve you of this torture." Lara swallowed the saliva in her mouth, closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before speaking, in an attempt to calm herself at least a bit. It didn't help, though — almost every word was interrupted by an instinctive sob from all the previous crying, and her throat was hoarse from all the screams. "You're wasting time... I will never, ever tell you anything. You can torture me for hours, I will endure. Once I tell you what I know, I'm useless for you, so I'll be dead in no time. Once you realize that I won't say a word, I'll be dead, too. So if there's no difference... I'll be fucking glad to die knowing that the information you want dies with me." Sarah's eyes were glowing with anger. She literally tore the whip from Mark's hands and flogged Lara hard across the body several times, hitting blindly wherever the whip lands — Lara's lungs were producing a neverending desperate scream, so loud that Mark winced for the first time since the beginning of the whole torture. When Sarah stopped, Lara's torso was covered in chaotic red stripes from the thin whip; all the muscles in her body were so tense from the pain that it almost seemed like she could literally tear herself from the ropes. Her loud groans echoed in the complete silence in the room, as she was clenching her teeth, struggling with the burning sensation all over her completely strained body. "I said..." A few more deep breaths. "I said you can torture me for the rest of my fucking life, and the knowledge will die with me!" Sarah aimed the whip again, but Mark quickly grabbed her hand mid-air. "Like I said, everyone has a torture they can't handle... Let me continue doing my work." Sarah looked at him with a mistrust for a moment, but then lowered her arm and handed the whip back to him.

"Lara, do you remember how I said that a low blow works on women quite well, even though there's a more painful alternative, which I then proceeded to perform on you?" — Mark started using his lecturing voice again, reaching inside the briefcase near the girl's head and taking the infamous "cat o' nine tails" whip from it. — "Why don't we go back to where we started..." He slowly walked to the other end of the table, standing in the middle of that side, right between Lara's feet tied to the corners of it. "By the way, I want to say that I'm sorry and that you I hope you don't see me as your ultimate villain in all this. It's just my job... Nothing personal, Lara." A short moment of the tails of the "cat" whizzing through the air — and they smashed right between her open legs, hitting a large area of her pubis, clitoris hood, labia and inner thighs. Lara's helpless, agonizing scream, not covered by the gag anymore, pierced the silence of the room again, as her torso arched upwards and her thighs tried to come together in a useless attempt to protect her crotch. Without letting the girl recover, Mark proceeded to brutally flog her pussy with fast, hard whips — Lara's throat went completely hoarse in no time, as her absolutely wild screams weren't stopping for even a second and her body was strained in the ropes incredibly hard, trying to defend the most intimate and tender parts from being mercilessly mauled. Sarah winced a bit, seeing how the girl's beautiful hips were quickly getting covered in blood from many deep cuts the "cat"'s tails were leaving; when Mark finally stopped to take a break, there wasn't a square inch of skin between Lara's legs that wasn't bearing traces of the weapon's hits. The girl was still letting out absolutely hoarse groans on every exhale, the ones as long as her lungs could handle; even the muscles of her arms, of her neck, of her upper abs were incredibly tense — her whole body was desperately trying to handle the insane pain.

With an uncovered sadistic smile appearing on his face, Mark landed one more whip between Lara's legs, sending her tied body upwards again with the sound of hysterical crying. Yet another whip, with one of the tails hitting the clitoris hood with a sadistic precision and leaving a bloody mark, and Lara jolted in the ties so hard that her left arm and leg suddenly tore off the ropes from the corners of the table, with the legs immediately clutching together and the free hand going between them — the next moment, the girl cried out even louder, as even lightly touching the tortured intimate parts was a torture itself. "Ah, you cunt!" — Mark yelled, dropping the weapon onto the floor and coming closer to the girl cuddled on one side of the table. Quickly cutting the two remaining ropes, he grabbed her by hair and threw her off the table — Lara's body was a pure concentration of pain; physically unable to stand on her legs, she just fell limply to the floor. "Get the fuck up!" — Mark grabbed her by hair again, lifted her off the floor and smacked her in the face brutally with his fist, and then again and again, with the final blow sending the back of her head into direct contact with the metal table-leg as he released her hair. Almost blacking out from everything that had happened, Lara fell back to the floor, still trying to curl up and cover her crotch — it didn't stop Mark. He slammed his boot into her belly, making her just squeak and cuddle even more. The second kick was directly into her face — her head jerked back as if her body was ragdoll, but Lara was still alive, at least judging by her breath and quiet sobs. Mark aimed his boot again — and was stopped by Sarah. "It's my turn to intervene. You're killing her, and as much as I hate to admit it, she's right in one thing — we don't want her killed. Hey, Lara," — she spoke quietly to the destroyed girl on the floor. — "Tell us what we need. We won't stop. We will never, ever stop. This will continue for days, if needed. For weeks. For months. There are other conferences, you know, all year round." Lara weakly spitted out three teeth together with a puddle of blood from her mouth. She wasn't even looking at Sarah. "I said I'm taking this information to the grave, bitch."

If looks could kill, then Sarah would have definitely killed her at that moment, even though it was absolutely not a part of the plan. "You're one fucking stubborn cunt," — she finally slowly hissed through her teeth. "Mark, is there anything else you can suggest?" — "Oh yes... I've just barely started. We're gonna get busy with her fingernails now," — Lara's fingers instinctively twitched. — "I've got the electricity stuff; hell, I can even blind her, if you want," — Mark was clearly enjoying talking about it in the presence of his victim. — "Then..." The same second, a mobile phone rang quietly in Sarah's pocket. "Moment... Hello, Mr. Jones. No, not yet, but we're working on it... What, now? Are you sure? Yes, of course. In a couple minutes." She hung up and looked at the two men in the room. "Jones called, he wants to see all of us on the upper deck, right now. We'll need to tie her back to the table, I guess?" — "Why? Look at her, the chick can't even move, not even speaking of standing or walking," — George said, nodding at Lara. "He's right," — Mark agreed, walking to the door and opening it. — "Besides, Francis here guards the room outside anyway." — "Fine," — Sarah said, exiting the room after the two men and stopping in the doorway to look back at cuddled Lara once again. — "Try to be a good girl, mama will be back soon," — she laughed, slamming the door behind herself.

... Lara wasn't sure how much time had passed. She wasn't even sure whether or not she had blacked out for a few minutes a couple times already, lying on the floor and weeping silently. Even the slightest movement of her thighs caused so much pain that she had to grit her remaining teeth to handle it; her whole body was aching and burning from all that these people had put her through — and there undoubtedly would be even more when they come back. Speaking of which, they weren't coming back for a long enough time that the pain in her body finally started to slowly recede; every movement was still a torture, with every scar and bruise sending jolts of pain to her mind, but after a couple minutes of struggling and muffled moans she managed to roll on her back and then sit up, holding the cold table-leg as a support and having her thighs slightly apart in order to ease the burning between them. Now that the slowly receding pain made some room for more organized thoughts in her mind, Lara observed the room around her, but found nothing at all that would be handy — handy for an escape. Despite the clear realization that her chances in one are perfectly zero, to die trying still seemed a much better prospect for her than the endless hours of torture lying ahead. Lara touched her face to wipe blood and drool and noticed the remains of the rope that was used to tie her to the table on the wrist. A crazy, impossible to pull plan flashed in her mind... Impossible, but still worth trying...


	4. Part 4

Not less than 20 more minutes passed until the door finally clanged and opened, letting inside Mark — alone. He looked at Lara, still lying on the floor in a curled up position, and smiled, slamming the door close with a loud bang and startling the girl. "Daddy's back, and while Mama's gone shopping, let's have some fun, baby!" — He grinned, quickly approaching her as she tried to crawl away with a frightened look on her face, and leaned down to grab her by hair... The same moment, Lara suddenly thrusted her arms forward, throwing the tied together ropes at his neck, and almost jumped off the floor, crying out from pain, but still managing to get behind Mark, dropping him into sitting position with her weight, and crossing her hands behind his head, securely catching his neck into the tied ropes. This was the moment of now or never — as if the beatings and the pain never existed, Lara put all the strength she still had inside her into the strangling — Mark made a gurgling sound, grabbing the rope around his neck, but the girl was pulling its ends with an almost inhuman force, clenching her teeth herself and doing all her best to not let go. Mark was chaotically slapping the floor with his hands, unable to take even a smallest breath; his legs were sliding on the polished floor, and his face was slowly starting to turn red. Lara's impression looked like one of a mad person now; the same sadistic grin that Mark's face was bearing some time ago was now seen on hers — but it was still too early to celebrate victory. As a last moment realization, Mark reached to the hip pocket of his pants and got a knife out of it — Lara barely managed to avoid the deadly blind hit backwards, as the blade ripped the air centimeters from her side, but the next second screamed loudly when the next swing of the knife plunged it deep into the flesh of her right leg, halfway up her thigh on the outer side. She almost let go of the rope at that moment — but then, as if that only gave her more strength, pulled it even harder, making Mark's throat make an unpleasant choking sound once again — his hands were trembling now, he let go of the knife in Lara's thigh, and his struggles soon started to turn into convulsions, as his life was quickly ebbing away.

The girl felt his body turn completely limp — and at that moment it was as if strength abandoned her again. She let go of the rope, letting Mark's lifeless body slide down to the side, and fell on her back herself, breathing deeply, staring into the ceiling and finally letting out a long cry of both pain and satisfaction — one deeply sadistic satisfaction. She slowly sat back up, grabbing the handle of the knife stuck deep inside her right thigh, and with one quick movement, clenching her teeth, pulled it out with a juicy sound and a short scream of pain, the same moment squeezing her bleeding thigh and moaning loudly. Still, she felt as if a jolt of adrenaline had pierced her system again; getting up was still an incredibly painful challenge, but in half a minute she was finally standing on her feet in the middle of the room with the bloodied knife in her hand. "I'm just trying to stay alive... Nothing personal," — she returned Mark's line to him, looking at his dead body, and slowly hobbled to the door, trying to prevent her thighs from rubbing against each other and at the same time not to put too much weight onto the stabbed leg. "Francis guards the room..." — Mark's words flashed in her head, as she was carefully listening to the almost indistinguishable noises from behind the door. It seemed like there was someone to the left from it. Squeezing the knife in her hand, she leaned against the wall to the left of the door and knocked twice on it, just like Sarah had done to call Mark. A couple footsteps were heard, and the door opened, letting inside an armed young man with a ready AK47 in his hands. "What's wr..." His question was interrupted by the knife cutting wide across his throat, making blood spurt out from both the cut and his mouth — falling down to the floor of the room, the dying man still managed to fire a couple rounds, with his finger already being on the trigger — the bullets penetrated the walls of the room, far enough away from Lara that she only twitched instinctively from the loud sound. "I'm sorry, Francis," — she whispered, leaning down slowly with a moan of pain and grabbing his rifle and then his belt with a couple magazines. The fired shots had undoubtedly alarmed everyone else — she had to act quick... And first of all, it would be great to find out where she was. Sarah had mentioned the deck — could it be that it was a ship? Lara remembered how she had felt a slight swaying of the floor a couple times, thinking that it was her dizziness at that time — that summed up well with the whole ship theory. Now she just needed to get off it alive...

Attaching the belt with the additional magazines and the knife on her waist and having the rifle ready to fire, Lara carefully peeked out of the room, finding herself in a long narrow corridor with metal walls, with what seemed a dead end on one side and a staircase leading somewhere upstairs on the other side. The interiors reminded of a ship, indeed — if she somehow managed to steal an evacuation boat, which had to be somewhere on the upper deck, she could even have a chance... Lara quickly sprinted to the dead end of the corridor, leaning against the wall there and hissing loudly through her teeth, as the rough material of the belt grazed against her fresh cuts painfully, and the bleeding wound on her thigh and a cracked rib reminded her of their existence. Observing the place around her, she double-checked that it was indeed a dead end, then slowly started walking down the corridor, with the rifle in her slightly shaking hands ready and pointing at the staircase. It seemed that she had overestimated her possible enemies, however — no one was coming to investigate the shooting, and the girl carefully proceeded upstairs, finding herself in another corridor, this time a wide and well-lit one, with paths leading in both directions. As Lara stood there uncertain for a moment, she suddenly heard the sound of heels against the metal floor — she turned around just in time to see Sarah and George come out from behind the corner and stand still for a fraction of a second in surprise as they saw Lara. The girl's finger was already on the trigger — a storm of bullets showered the two people chaotically; Sarah immediately jumped back behind the corner, but George wasn't so fast. His lifeless body slammed against the wall and slowly slided down it, as Lara smiled triumphantly, slowly approaching the corner with the rifle in her hands...

... Finding no one. Sarah definitely knew where to retreat — the corridor behind the corner was completely empty, leading into a large and quite dark room. This seemed either like a blind retreat or a well thought of trap... Lara leaned to George's body to check his pulse just in case, and, having made sure that he was dead, carefully walked towards the room, ready to jump back into the corridor at any moment. However, no one fired at her the moment she stepped into the room, and the whole place was quiet... Probably too quiet. Taking a look around, Lara noticed quite a few big wooden boxes — could it be that this was a storage room? She walked close to one of the boxes in order to read the label on it — the next second, the silence of the room was pierced by a loud high-pitched noise, as the speakers near the ceiling in the corner of the room turned on, startling the girl. "Attention all crew," — a confident male voice spoke through a faint static noise. — "We have an armed hostile person on board. Female, looking around 22-25, most probably naked or almost naked. Be cautious; she has an automatic rifle and knows well how to use it. Shoot her on sight, I repeat — shoot. Her. Down." The transmission ended abruptly, filling the room with ominous silence again; Lara shivered, clutching the rifle tighter and swallowing nervously, and looked back cautiously. The fact that for some reason they didn't need to keep her alive anymore just made the whole escape plan much harder... Lara looked up, noticing faint light coming out of the almost completely closed door on the catwalk above the room; finding a staircase leading there, she quickly went up and peeked into the gap of the door... Finally some daylight. The door was apparently leading to the upper deck of the ship; carefully observing the surroundings, Lara didn't see anyone immediately close to the door — and at the same time, saw a convenient bunch of metal containers not too far away, near the very edge of the deck — these could be perfect for holding a defensive position and shooting the attackers...

Taking a deep breath, Lara stormed out of the door, taking a run for the containers — the same moment, a deafeningly loud rattle of gunfire blasted on her left, as at least five people were standing at some distance from the door, definitely expecting her. Lara screamed, feeling a bullet dig deep into her midriff just slightly to the right from her navel, and another one pierce her left calf, making her trip and literally fall face-first — luckily for her, already behind the cover of the containers. The girl moaned loudly from pain, quickly sitting up behind the boxes and firing blindly a few shots backwards in the general direction of the attackers by holding her rifle above the cover, hearing at least one man scream from pain. Lara groaned through clenched teeth herself, clutching the wound in her stomach with her left hand; she could feel the bullet stuck deep inside her flesh — however, even the thought of trying to pull it out with her own fingers made her shudder. Her left leg was in a somewhat better condition, being just pierced through by the bullet — however, running was definitely not an option anymore. The girl turned around, peeking around the corner of the container and pressing the trigger once again — the rifle clicked, having run out of ammunition. "Fuck!" As a dozen more bullets whizzed over her head, Lara quickly jumped back behind the cover to reload, noticing to herself how her hands were shaking and counting the spare ammo. Definitely not enough to get out of here... Sticking the new magazine into the rifle, the girl peeked from behind the corner again, managing to bring down two more people before the slowly approaching group fired back, just barely missing her head with their shots. The girl was hyperventilating, holding the weapon tightly and trying to get her thoughts together. She could hear the footsteps of the remaining two people coming closer and closer... An idea flashed in her mind — she grabbed the empty magazine from the deck and threw it over the containers. "Grenade! Cover, now!" As the two men turned their backs in an attempt to retreat from the blast, Lara raised up from behind the cover, firing an almost unaimed round horizontally in their direction and successfully bringing them both down — and once again, it was as if it was the adrenaline that had been keeping her able to fight; with the last enemy down, the girl swayed and almost fell down on the containers, moaning from the sudden full amount of sharp pain from her bleeding wound.

Lara quickly slided back down, into the cover, holding her belly with her left hand and suddenly realizing it was completely covered in blood. The wound was way more serious than her adrenaline-pumped feelings were telling her... She closed her eyes for a second, trying to hold back the tears of despair; after a moment of hesitation, she reached inside the wound with her fingers and screamed sharply with what was left of her hoarse voice, struggling with her own body as she was pushing the shaking fingers deeper in an attempt to feel the bullet. Sitting with her back against the container, Lara was desperately banging her head against the metal with wild howling, almost going insane from the pain that she was delivering to herself... The two fingers were at least a couple of inches deep inside her flesh, when she finally felt them touching the lead — her remaining teeth bit hard into her own bruised lip, completely destroying it, when her body arched up in agony as she was trying to hold the bullet with her fingers. One final, incredibly painful movement of the hand — and the girl literally teared the bullet from herself, bringing a fair amount of blood with it and letting out a long cry of pain. She was breathing heavily, half-lying on the deck behind the cover and holding her wound; not more than half a minute passed before her thoughts got back to her and she realized the backup to the people she had barely fought off was to come shortly. She needed to move...

Carefully peeking from behind the container once again and seeing no immediate threats, Lara noticed an evacuation boat fixed near the other side of the ship. If that thing had enough fuel on it, and if she managed to lower it into the water quickly enough... This sounded like an absolutely crazy plan, but the dizziness she was already feeling from the blood loss and all the torture convinced her that it was the only option — she simply didn't have enough blood and time left to try something more prolonged and careful... Limping on both legs, flogged all over her body, beaten, badly wounded, covered in blood, Lara got out of her cover and headed across the deck towards the boat with her rifle ready. Halfway there, a thought flashed in her mind that it was way too quiet on the deck, surely there would already be people storming out of all doors, wouldn't they?.. The same moment, a long bang sounded from the direction of the captain's bridge, elevated and located far enough away, and a heavy sniper rifle bullet hit her chest so hard that the girl was literally thrown down onto the deck on her back. Lara screamed sharply from pain, clutching her wound; the bullet hit slightly higher than her left breast, under the collarbone, perfectly keeping her alive, but rendering her left arm almost useless. In panic, the girl tried to reach the dropped rifle — a second sniper shot hit the weapon precisely, throwing it far back down the deck from her body. Lara froze, expecting her life to end at any moment now. She closed her eyes... "Come on... Shoot again... Here I am, why isn't he firing?.."

The sound of an opening door wasn't a one she was expecting to hear. She shrugged, opening her eyes and seeing a 40-something-year-old man come out of one of the doors leading to the deck, some 20-30 meters away from her. The man was wearing a casual long-sleeve shirt with light-colored cotton pants; the old-fashioned fedora on his head seemed a rather odd addition to his wardrobe, but at that moment Lara was thinking more about the long whip in his right hand and the pistol in the left, pointing directly at her. "Get up," — the man said, coming closer to the girl, and she recognized his voice as being the one on the broadcasting system. — "Get up!" — He raised his right arm, and Lara barely managed to cuddle on the floor of the deck before the whip hit her body mercilessly, making her groan from pain loudly, grabbing her side and thigh with one hand. She slowly got first on her knees, then on her legs, standing 4 meters away from the man, holding her wounds and breathing heavily from fear. He stared into her eyes for quite a while... "Do you know who I am?" — "I have no fucking idea..." — Lara whispered quietly, almost unable to talk anymore. — "But if I were to guess, maybe you're that prick Jones that I heard about." — "You're goddamn right," — the man smiled. — "But who cares about names? What's more important is that I'm the one who is about to steal your discovery. I'm sure Sarah offered it to you nicely at first, didn't she? But you're a stubborn girl... Look at all the mess you did. Look at all my people you killed. You're like a rabid dog, Lara. And rabid dogs need to be brought down." — "After all that your people did to me, I'll be glad," — a faint smiled appeared on the girl's face. — "And I'll be even fucking more glad knowing that with my death, you'll never know what you need for your "discovery" to make sense." Jones laughed her in the face. "Haven't you heard the latest news, Lara? Murchwald survived! We somehow managed to not kill him completely, can you believe it?" — he grinned, observing the priceless look on Lara's face. — "Surely, he'll spend the next couple of months confined to his bed in a hospital, but when he gets better, we'll make him speak. How does it feel to know it doesn't depend on you anymore? And so here's the question... Why do I need you alive now?"

Despite all Lara's boasting that she would be glad to die, she actually wasn't ready to embrace death at all. No one ever is ready. She visibly fainted, looking at Jones in panic. "Come here, girl," — the man threw his whip onto the deck and headed towards Lara — she managed to make just two small steps back on her shaking feet before he was right in front of her. As he reached to her belt with ammunition, she was too slow to react in time — her knife flashed in Jones' hand, and the next moment its sharp blade plunged deep into her bare lower belly, making her inhale deeply and stare into his eyes with a completely terrified and shocked look. The realization of her life coming to an end, mixed with almost unbearable pain... Embracing the girl by waist, Jones pulled her body closer to his, driving the knife so deep into her flesh that its handle touched her bare skin — Lara let out a stifled scream into his face, feeling the knife pierce her in the most tender and intimate place... The man started to slowly twist the blade in the wound, and Lara couldn't hold a high-pitched, desperate long cry of pain, grabbing Jones' arms instinctively and digging her nails into his shirt, as the insane pain was piercing all of her body... Blood was literally flowing down her hips from the wound, which was getting wider and wider with every sadistic twist of the blade; dripping to the deck and forming a dark red puddle... Almost embracing the girl, who could barely stand on her legs by now, Jones pulled the knife out — and slammed it into her groin once again, delivering a second wound, just as painful as the previous one was. And again... Lara wasn't even crying anymore, securely held in Jones' embrace; her eyes and mouth were wide open in a silent scream of shocking pain, as the knife left more and more wounds in her bottom... And then the man just let go of her. The girl fell onto the deck into the puddle of her own blood, by some miracle still barely conscious; her body was twitching in agonizing convulsions, she was still trying to cover her groin with both hands... Soon it all was over. Her bloodied body lay still, with the now empty look in her eyes still staring high into the sky.

The sound of heels against the surface of the deck was heard, and Sarah approached Jones from behind, handing him a towel to wipe his hands. "These were fine clothes... That's a shame," — he noted calmly, noticing how his shirt and pants were now covered in Lara's blood. Giving the towel back to Sarah, he reached into the pocket and took a cellphone from it, taking a few photos of the girl's lifeless body. "I can understand the will to kill her by yourself," — Sarah said quietly, — "but this... Isn't it too... weird?" — "It's not for me. Imagine the look on Murchwald's face when we show him this." — Jones grinned. — "Okay, I'll go and change. Get someone to clean up all this mess," — he nodded at Lara and headed to the door he had come from, quietly whistling a popular tune.

* * *

Ffreq

December 2012 - January 2013


End file.
